BYP100 organizers engaging in voter education campaigns to urge Black voters to think critically about the down ballot and elected officials we support

Washington, D.C., November 7, 2016 – BYP100 is currently running 10 voter engagement campaigns across the nation – Washington D.C, Jackson, MS, New Orleans, LA Chicago, IL, New York, NY, Oakland, CA, Detroit, MI, Durham, NC, Virginia and Maryland – in efforts to build Black political power and invest in our people. We are focusing our efforts in educating our community to vote on issues, not candidates – to make sure that we are informed about the ways in which our voting power can shift results of local elections which can lead to major changes in local policies that directly impact our friends and families.

Electoral campaigns and representative politics is not just about the turnout percentages or numbers on Election Day. We register, educate, and protect the rights of black people to vote as a part of and towards our abolitionist political perspective. We ask critical questions about what elections could look like, what a truly representative and reflective political system could look like.

“I’m dedicated to highlighting the relationship between movement work and elections. If we look throughout history, some of the biggest efforts that benefitted Black people have been related to elections, policy, or legislation. We must start thinking of politics as another way in which we work toward Black liberation.” – Katrina Rogers, BYP100 New Orleans Chapter

“Today we had the parade to the polls with Chance the Rapper and had over 1000 people come out to celebrate voting. We had 15 BYP100 members who ended up being official poll marshalls and marched from Grant Park to the bigger supervoting station. We passed out documentation and had conversations with people in the crowd. Some people didn’t vote because of long lines but the incredible part was getting people out to vote early and so now they are well informed about where polling is and how to vote. Black folks know about focusing on local elections and we’ve had a lot of conversations about local elections and judges and how we need to understand the bare minimum. It was amazing.” – Luna White, BYP100 Chicago Chapter

The failure of the presidential candidates to thoroughly address our movement and our issues only speaks to the urgency of the work that we do and we are prepared to continue to engage in our abolitionist political practices to achieve Black liberation. Neither Hillary nor Trump share our common interests so it is up to us to make sure that we can rally our folks to understand that no candidate is a permanent ally and that as long as the system operates as it has been since it’s inception, we must continue to mobilize and agitate. We have to actively push to alter the relations and systems of power (Direct action, policy advocacy, civil disobedience) while building the power we need to get what we want (Civic engagement, training, leadership development).

“This is about what happens on Election Day and after Election Day. This isn’t about candidates and scare tactic messaging. This is about the communities we live, work, and fight in. This is about the independent Black political power we’re building and will be leveraging after Election Day – no matter who wins.” – Jessica Pierce, BYP100 National Chair

To get more information about what we’re doing on the grounds, contact our local spokespeople:

Detroit, MI – Marcia Black – marciablack8@gmail.com

Virginia – Cedric Lawson – cedriclawson@gmail.com

New York, NY – Alexis Martin – alexismariemartin@gmail.com

Jackson, MS – Nat Offiah – offiahnatalie@gmail.com

Durham, NC – Mina Ezikpe – mina.ezikpe@gmail.com

Durham, NC – Courtney Sebring – crsebrin@ncsu.edu

New Orleans, LA – Katrina Rogers – katrinalrogers@gmail.com

Chicago, IL – Luna White – lunablancca@gmail.com

Chicago, IL – Parrish Brown – parrishbrown16@gmail.com

DC and PG County – JeNaé Taylor – jenae.nicole@gmail.com

DC and PG County – Joy Ikekhua – jikekhua@scmail.spelman.edu

Oakland, CA – Roselyn Berry – berry.roselyn@gmail.com

Oakland, CA – Christian Bufford – christianbufford@gmail.com

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BYP100 is national member-based organization of Black 18-35 year old activists, dedicated to creating justice and freedom for all Black people. We do our work through a Black Queer Feminist lens.

Young Black activists demand that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) release the names of cops who murdered Terrence

Washington, D.C. – The DC Chapter of BYP100 is demanding that the names of the officers involved in the murder of Terrence Sterling, 31, be released and they be fired.

Sterling was killed on September 11 by Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) when officers opened fire on him after his motorcycle crashed into a police cruiser. In a violation of protocol, the officers disobeyed orders to not pursue Terrence and turned off their body cameras before shooting and killing him.

“MPD and their ‘Special Police’ mercenary counterparts have no interest in protecting or serving Black lives.” said Erin Shields, co-chair of the DC Chapter of BYP100. “Terrence’s death illuminates why we fight to divest from police and invest resources in Black communities. Investments in officer-worn body cameras and sensitivity trainings for police do not reduce frequency or increase accountability in police killings of civilians. They simply expand police budgets. Those funds should be taken away from police departments and invested into our communities.”

Last year, DC’s “Special Police” force shot and killed Alonzo Smith, 27, at Marbury Plaza apartments in Anacostia while he was naked and running through a hallway. No public information is available on the officers involved in that shooting.

Call MPD Interim Chief of Police, Peter Newsham, to demand MPD release the names of the officers involved in the shooting and their termination at(202) 727-9099.

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BYP100 is an activist member-based organization of Black 18-35 year olds, dedicated to creating justice and freedom for all Black people. We do our work through a Black queer feminist lens.

Washington, D.C. – Black youth organizers from across the nation will take BYP100’s economic justice policy platform, the Agenda to Build Black Futures, to Congress on September 14th where they meet with elected officials, rally with the public, and push for a transformative vision of policy that affirms Black lives and communities.

Led by BYP100 and the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), the Build Black Futures Advocacy Day is the first national advocacy effort to enact Black policy and build Black power since the Vision for Black Lives policy platform was announced on August 1, 2016, and will coincide will the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference.

“We are here to demand accountability from those who choose to invest in the systems that are killing us,” said Charlene Carruthers, national director of BYP100. “Black liberation cannot be actualized until all Black people including Black women, Black queer and trans people, Black disabled and undocumented people live in safe and well-resourced communities with clean water, food security, housing security, income security, health care and reproductive autonomy–regardless of their income.”

Black women have the least wealth out of any racial or ethnic group, over a third of Black transgender people live below $10,000 a year, and because police in many states double as first responders to calls where a person is in mental health crises, disabled Black people are disproportionately killed by police.

“NBJC is honored to partner with BYP100 to educate elected officials on the comprehensive policy demands of the Movement for Black Lives policy platform,” said Isaiah Wilson, NBJC external affairs manager. “The platform unapologetically centers the lives of Black LGBTQ people and our families. Building Black-centered policy demands and Black political power as instructed in the platform are fundamental to achieving Black liberation.”

This year, two Black-centered grassroots policy agendas have been published– BYP100’s Agenda to Build Black Futures and the Movement for Black Lives’ (M4BL) Vision for Black Lives: Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom, and Justice. Both of these documents outline a plan for addressing the systemic oppression historically and currently faced by Black communities, and outline core areas that would transform the social, political and economic conditions for Black people in America: ending mass criminalization and incarceration; reparations; honoring workers’ rights; community control, political power, divesting from and eliminating profit for punishment; valuing women’s paid and unpaid work; building queer and trans wealth; stabilizing and revitalizing Black communities; and building Black political power.

“All Black people deserve to live with dignity,” said Janae Bonsu, co-author of the Agenda to Build Black Futures and a member of M4BL’s policy table. We are committed to abolishing and transforming systems that dehumanize us by organizing in the streets, engaging in direct action against the state, and holding elected officials responsible to being responsive the needs of our people.”

#BuildBlackFutures

#BBFAdvocacyDay

#BlackPolicyBlackPower

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BYP100 is an activist member-based organization of Black 18-35 year olds, dedicated to

creating justice and freedom for all Black people. We do our work through a Black queer

Applications will be reviewed on an “as submitted’ schedule, final deadline to apply is midnight EST on Monday August 29th

All Interested Applications Should Submit a Resume to: applications@byp100.org

BYP100 & This Election

BYP100 believes that civic engagement is not the beginning or the end of the work we’re building towards a vision of radical black liberation. It is a tool and an opportunity to build power, infrastructure, and data on black youth to help influence our ongoing campaigns and organizational initiatives.

In this election we will be running community-based, black youth led registration, education and turnout initiatives focused on engaging the community we represent—young black people between the ages of 18-35. We will not be focusing on candidates (Presidential or otherwise), but on how this election impacts our communities outside of candidate personality politics.

Locations

BYP100 will be looking to hire 3 canvassers in each of the following cities to support BYP100 election work:

Atlanta, GA

Chicago, IL

Detroit, MI

Durham, NC

Jackson, MS

Oakland, CA

New Orleans, LA

New York City, NY

Washington, DC (Maryland & Virginia Canvasses)

Pay: $13.50/hour for up to 15 hours work per week starting immediately running through the voter registration deadline with the possibility of extension through election day with program modification. In addition to payment, BYP100 will cover public transportation and gas costs during working hours.

Time:Roles will be hired immediately with flexibility with hours and schedule.

Doorknocking & Street Teams Canvasser Role Description:

Skills Required:

Experience organizing on issue-based and/or electoral campaigns

Experience participating in field tactics (Street teams, doorknocking, phonebanks, etc.) from conception, through implementation, and evaluation

Interest in issues of criminalization of black youth, economic empowerment of black people, and the decriminalization of marijuana

Outgoing, positive, and open personality

Commitment to the empowerment and engagement of Black youth

Canvassers will be responsible for implementing the following deliverables:

Collection of voter registration cards & election pledge card

Support around data collection and tracking

Participating in volunteer street teams and doorknocks on Saturdays, Sundays, and weekday nights starting in September and then running through election day

BYP100 Durham Chapter joins other community groups and residents including SONG and the #Sayhername Durham Collective in a large action protesting the abuse of the institution of policing. ‘Durham Rally Against Police Terror’ is a continuation of the ‘Durham Beyond Policing’ campaign and demonstration amidst the national actions calling out the violence of police in our communities. BYP100 joins hundreds of Durham residents outside of the Chapel Hill Street Durham Police Department as we gather to call for a swift divestment from the police and oppose Durham City Council’s vote to move forward with a new $71 million police headquarters.

“When you consider the histories of modern police as slave catchers, lynch mobs, and Jim Crow enforcers, it is quite difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile being pro-Black and pro-police. An institution premised on anti-Blackness cant be reformed to protect and serve Black people — yes, even if the officers are Black themselves. What we’re witnessing is about institutions, not individuals.” – Danielle Purifoy, BYP100 Organizer

BYP100 Detroit Chapter and BLM detroit are holding a blockade at the Detroit Police Central District Station to bring awareness to what would have been the 14th birthday of Aiyana Stanley-Jones, a 7 year old girl who was killed by Detroit Police Office Joseph Weekly in 2010 during a police raid that was being filmed for a television show. The activists are calling for the immediate termination of Weekly from the DPD where he now serves as a co-lead of the department’s Committee on Race and Equality – a move that many participating in the action say was disrespectful to Aiyana’s family and residents of the city of Detroit.

BYP100 Bay Area and dozens of other organizers are currently gathered the xxx and occupying space for 24 hours. They are there in response to the ongoing brutality and systemic violence against Black people, both nationally and in Oakland. Organizers are speaking and protesting issues of police accountability, housing, and displacement of long-time Oakland residents and the current crisis of failed leadership in Oakland.

“We are here at OPOA to demand that the city of Oakland recognize we are in a crisis of failed leadership. When the city and the Schaaf administrator continue to prioritize funding for more police, Black people are left behind, criminalized, and over-policed in their own communities and forced to leave. The impacts of gentrification and the displacement of Black people in Oakland further intensifies the criminalization and violence against them.” – Wazi Davis, BYP100 Bay Area Organizer

BYP100 in coordination with the #LetUsBreathe Collective and the Movement for Black Lives, #FreedomNow Day of Action are taking action to shut-down the Chicago Police Department (CPD) – Homan Square “black site” in Chicago to demonstrate the urgency in investing in new alternatives and divesting from police systems that violently oppress Black people

“This city should not be investing dollars into a police force that has committed racially-motivated violence and has had a hand in destabilizing Black communities. The city spends hundreds of millions of dollars on police while schools and essential services that keep Black communities safe are being cut and closed.”, says BYP100 Communications Co-chair Kirsten Brockenborough.

BYP100 NYC and Million Hoodies NYC chapter are currently locking down the Lower Manhattan headquarters of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association to demand the immediate firing of Officer Wayne Isaacs and to call attention to the multiple institutions that hamper police accountability in the city.

“The police are trying to manipulate the conversation. They are trying to manipulate all of us into believing that they are at risk. They are not at risk. Police officers are the threat. Police do not keep us safe. Police do not protect us. They are the danger that keeps Black people unsafe. We met divest from institutions that do not value us and instead invest in Black communities.” – Rahel Mekdim Teka, BYP100 NYC Organizing Chair

BYP100 DC and BLM DC have occupied the Legislative Office of the National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) to demand that police officers invested in accountability and justice stop paying dues to the FOP, a private police union that protects officers – including those who kill and maim civilians – by ensuring they are paid administrative leave while under investigation, maintain their jobs, and are not charged or acquitted of wrongdoing.

“The FOP acts like a college fraternity and is responsible for maintaining the harmful, lethal, unethical, and unaccountable culture of policing while the families and communities impacted when officers brutalize civilians are left to mourn with little, if any, semblance of justice. Just like college frats that further rape culture by closing ranks to protect members who are sexual assailants, the FOP has proven that their primary commitment is to protect the worst of their members behind the ‘Blue Wall of Silence’ – even in the most heinous of circumstances. The FOP is the most dangerous fraternity in America and they need to be stopped,” remarks Clarise McCants, BYP100 DC Organizer.